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IELTS test in Lagos, Nigeria was described by O., who remembered the following topics and questions. Many thanks, O.!

Listening test

Section 1: There was a discussion between a man who wanted to rent an apartment and a property agent.

Section 2: This section was a monologue, a man gave a speech about the type of car one can buy, easy to maintain and how to maintain it, type of fuel to use and other related details. It was difficult for me to understand. Section 4 was usually the difficult one, but this time it wasn’t the case. I think it’s because of Australian accent which I am not used to.

Section 3: Two students were conducting a research about their town.

Section 4: Don’t remember.

Writing test

Writing Task 1 (a report)
We had a table with four sectors of company namely: Manufacturing, Building, Services and one other, information about numbers of workers (skilled workers, unskilled workers and technical/managerial staff) needed in 2003 and 2004 in percent.

Writing Task 2 (an essay)
People in the city do not get to interact and know their neighbors, thereby losing community life. What causes it and measures that could be taken to solve it.

Speaking test

Interview
– What is your full name?
– What shall I call you?
– Talk about the apartment or flat that you live in.
– What part of the house do youi like most?
– How will you make you home better?
– Who does most of the cooking in the house?
– Do you prefer home cooked food to eating out?
– Do you go out a lot with friends?
– Where do you go with your friends and what do you do?

Cue Card
Describe a song / music you heard when you were little, you should say
– Who sang the song / played the music.
– What was the type of music.
– What was it all about.

Discussion
– Do you like music?
– Is it good to have music on the background in a shopping mall?
– Do people in your country prefer their traditional music to foreign music?
– Do music contribute to noise pollution?

This post was contributed by Mr. Nipun Jain, the head of Benchmark – our evaluation team. On behalf of all the readers I would like to thank Mr. Jain and all the fine teachers of Benchmark.

Transitions

Transitional words and phrases are what gives your essays coherence, we need them to join sentences and thoughts together. Look at the lists below. These are transitional phrases that you can memorize and keep in your arsenal for the IELTS writing module.

AGREEMENT: also, plus, in addition, further, furthermore, moreover, additionally, to add to that, next, in accordance with, accordingly, in agreement, finally, for instance, for example, in exemplification, exemplifying that, in fact, factually speaking, in terms of, and so forth, looking at the nexus between, in coordination with, along those lines, collectively speaking, generally speaking, indeed, undoubtedly, obviously, to be sure.

CONTRAST: however, contrastingly, in contrast, on the contrary, on the other hand, To put it into perspective, from a different angle, nonetheless, nevertheless, but, yet, a catch to this is, sadly enough, as a hindrance, looking at the holdups, oddly enough, instead, in direct opposition, still, and rather.

RESULT: as a result, as a consequence, consequently, thus, therefore, hence, thereby, resulting in, ultimately, in the end, finally, in the overall analysis, in hindsight, in retrospect, retrospectively, vicariously, the long term effect, as a short term result, significantly, as a major effect, effectively, heretofore, hereafter, thereafter, in short, generally, over all, concluding.